News

Gov. Perry: Indictment 'Amounts To Nothing'

by
Scott Neuman
NPR |
Aug. 17, 2014 12:24 p.m.

Updated at 3:20 p.m. ET.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who has been charged with felony counts of abuse of power over his veto of funding for a public corruption office, fired back today, calling the indictment politically motivated.

“I did nothing wrong,” Perry said at a brief news conference in Texas. “The indictment amounts to nothing.

“I think there are a lot of people on both sides of the aisle who see it for what it is, a political decision,” he said.

Perry says he stands by his veto, a day after a grand jury charged him with two felony counts.

“Given that information and given that choice again, that is exactly what I would do,” he said.

“I am going to continue to do my job and deal with big, important issues,” the governor said, mentioning the immigration crisis on the Texas border.

As The Associated Press writes:

“The indictments are related to Perry vetoing funding for a Travis County unit investigating public corruption last year because the Democratic official heading the office to resign after being convicted of drunken driving.

“The investigative unit is based in Austin, a heavily Democratic city where the grand jury was seated. The rest of Texas is heavily Republican.”